On a recent visit to Exeter noticed most town services used E200s,would be good to see these used in darlington instead of the SLF and MPD darts.Very keen to see what's gonna be cascaded once the streetlite's and Max omnicities come into service. Where will the branded X1 pulsars end up, would they be suitable on the 8s! Agree with jimmi that this route needs better stock. Guess we'll see the ex P&R solo's from durham replace the darts!

I think 1404/5/6 were rumoured to be moving to Belmont depot and 1407 will stay at Darlington depot, but I'm not sure that this is still the case. I think Pulsars were rumoured to be used on the 75/76 as I think Arriva are started to be pressured into putting younger buses on this route.

I think the ex Durham Park and Ride Solos are displacing the newer MPDs to Blyth depot. I think Darlington were also due to receive an additional 5 Solos from Belmont depot following the Service 23 StreetLites entering service but this hasn't happened.

I think the additional Solos and Omnicitys arriving at Darlington depot soon will help withdraw the older Darts and I imagine Arriva will invest in new buses to replace the Darts and other non DDA compliant buses by the end of next year.

Service 8/8A definitely needs better buses as them Darts can't cope with the route, recently I have seen these services running 10 minutes late alot lately and that's if they haven't broken down, they didn't seem to have these problems when MPDs were allocated. I don't think Pulsars would be suitable as I think they would struggle to get round York Hill Estate in Spennymoor.